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| Ahern loyalist grant clarified | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Bertie Ahern's 4,000 euro donation to a loyalist estate has been clarified by a spokesman. | |
| Penny Holloway criticised the grant, saying some people in the Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast were harbouring her teenage son's killers. | |
| Thomas Devlin, 15, was stabbed to death on 10 August 2005 as he walked home. | |
| The spokesman said the grant for an art piece was "in the context of the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme". | |
| The grant was made to the Mount Vernon Community Development Forum through the Commemoration Initiatives Fund. | |
| The spokesman said the fund was "established to make resources available to groups and organisations for the study and commemoration of historic events of national importance". | |
| "By providing financial support to local organisations, the aim of the fund is to assist and encourage the development of local programmes of commemoration," he added. | |
| "Given the limited budget available, such funding is, in general and by necessity, of a token nature." | |
| Ms Holloway and her husband wrote to Mr Ahern to make clear their disgust at his office's decision. | |
| Ms Holloway said: "It is wrong that this money from the taoiseach is being used to give the impression this community has changed. | Ms Holloway said: "It is wrong that this money from the taoiseach is being used to give the impression this community has changed. |
| "We wrote to him because we felt the taoiseach was legitimising the actions of some of the people in Mount Vernon, who are hiding, protecting and harbouring Thomas's killers." | "We wrote to him because we felt the taoiseach was legitimising the actions of some of the people in Mount Vernon, who are hiding, protecting and harbouring Thomas's killers." |
| But loyalist spokesman Billy Hutchinson, who works on the estate, insisted people had co-operated with police in the murder inquiry. | But loyalist spokesman Billy Hutchinson, who works on the estate, insisted people had co-operated with police in the murder inquiry. |
| He said he rejected any suggestion that local people were withholding information. | He said he rejected any suggestion that local people were withholding information. |
| Sympathy | Sympathy |
| "The Devlins have had a lot of sympathy from this community," he told the BBC's Nolan Show. | |
| "I assure you it has been worked on - I've met police and they've said they were satisfied they had made a number of enquiries and it was leading nowhere, and they were satisfied that people here did not have information." | "I assure you it has been worked on - I've met police and they've said they were satisfied they had made a number of enquiries and it was leading nowhere, and they were satisfied that people here did not have information." |
| Police said forensic examinations of items including dog hair and other physical evidence were being carried out. | Police said forensic examinations of items including dog hair and other physical evidence were being carried out. |
| They said they wanted to encourage what they called a small group of people who know who killed Thomas to come forward. | They said they wanted to encourage what they called a small group of people who know who killed Thomas to come forward. |